


As Good As Terrible Twos Get

by reinasolo



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Fluff, Family, Gen, Humor, Terrible Twos, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 07:33:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14807021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reinasolo/pseuds/reinasolo
Summary: “You think mommy is overreacting?” Ben questions his son as he places him in a booster seat at the dining room table.“No.”Ah,no. It’s Ani’s new favorite word.-Fic Prompt:AU domestic fluff piece – rey is out of town for work and ben has to take care of their toddler who’s at the peak of their terrible-twos, deciding to work from home to accomplish this. bonus points if he’s trying everything possible NOT to call his parents or rey for help.





	As Good As Terrible Twos Get

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shiiera](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiiera/gifts).



> Prompt from the amazing [shiiera](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiiera). Enjoy... I hope.

It’s like a scene out a bad family comedy that tries too hard. Armed with luggage Rey is slowly making her way to the front door, but she keeps stopping to remind Ben of little facts, things he already knows. She’s repeating herself at this point. Ben follows behind her, carrying their two year old son on his hip.

"I should double check that I wrote the hotel number right."

"You're staying at a Holiday Inn. All I have to do is input your location with the hotel name into Google and I'll get a number as fast as I can snap my fingers."

Rey looks uncertain.

"It’s going to be fine, Rey."

"I know, but—"

 _But_ she's never left Ani alone for this long before. Neither has he, but this is different; Ben can feel hear fears like a second skin.

"You're not your parents Rey. You're coming back."

She'll be spending the rest of the week in Takondana (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and back Saturday morning) training a new employee for Maz. It will be Ben and baby Ani alone together for the duration.

This is a first for all of them.

Fortunately enough Ben always has the option to do his job from home and he’s taking advantage of that this week. Especially with Ani’s recent tendencies of being restless; their poor babysitter deserves a raise.

“You’re right.” She closes her eyes and takes a moment to mentally shake off her thoughts.

When she’s done she approaches her boys for goodbye kisses.

“I love you both.” Rey declares, still emotional.

“We know.”

She’s halfway out the door when she suddenly remembers, “I threw out his favorite graham crackers since they were stale! You’re going to have to buy more!”

* * *

“You think mommy is overreacting?” Ben questions his son as he places him in a booster seat at the dining room table.

“No.”

Ah, _no_. It’s Ani’s new favorite word.

They just so happen to agree on this point though.

“We’ll be okay.”

“No.”

Ben chuckles.

“We can go pickup more graham crackers tomorrow.”

“No.”

“You say that now…”

* * *

Han calls Rey first, during the halfway point of her drive.

She’s only forty-five minutes behind schedule. When Rey stopped to fill her car up with gas she contemplated turning around, twice. Later when she was stopped at a rest area she dialed Ben three times and hung up every time, eventually turning to a text to update her husband. It hurt her to not even ask for a picture of Ani, but she decided to save that for tomorrow or the day after for when she’d really need it.

“Han!” she greets, probably trying to hard too be cheery.

For first time she’s truly grateful that Ben pushed for her to get a car with smart technology touch-free calling.

“Hey kid. I was thinking since you’re going to be gone maybe I’ll go over there and check up on the boys. Maybe we’ll go out for dinner.”

“I’m sure they’d like that,” she sighs. “He’ll be fine. _They’ll_ be fine.”

“I know they will.”

Han is silent for a moment; she can hear him breathing on the other end.

“Han, I can feel your worry from all the way over here.”

“Touché, Rey.”

* * *

“How about some Cheerios?”

Ani’s face crinkles. If his vocabulary had more range, he’d probably being saying “dad, you’ve got to be kidding me?”

“I feel you buddy. They’re just flavorless cardboard circles.”

Cheerios had been Han and Leia’s favorite choice for Ben when was young. Leia said they were healthy for toddlers and Han did whatever Leia said. Han had learned to pick and choose his battles with Leia and he wasn’t going to get into it with her over a breakfast cereal. Ben got over them quickly. He tried hiding the boxes his mom bought and now as an adult he only has them for Ani.

Ben decides to takes a bowl of fruit out of the fridge. It’s mixed with strawberries, apples, bananas, watermelon, and grapes, all cut and sized to meet Ani’s needs. He put a couple of scoops in a small plastic bowl and placed it in front of Ani.

“This is better, and probably more fresh.”

Ben goes back into kitchen to get Ani some juice.

Ani eyes the fruit, looks in Ben’s direction, and back to the fruit.

Then he whips his little hand out and knocks the bowl over.

“No!”

Ben rushes back into the room.

“Cookie!

* * *

It’s breakfast time. Ani needs to eat something.

But is a cookie a good option?

Ben grabs his phone and taps number three for his mom’s contact. His fingers hover over the call touch.

Mom would know.

And she’d surely say no.

But if he calls her she’ll call every morning during breakfast. She’d probably come over with something from her favorite local farmers market.

If he called Han, he’d probably say it’s just a cookie, _no big deal_. Han’s philosophy stated that you could have anything for breakfast since it’s the most important meal of the day, just as long as you do actually eat.

He closes out the phone.

“Siri is a cookie an acceptable breakfast for a two year old?”

* * *

Ben and Ani are in the living room. Ben is hunched over his laptop and iPad which are sitting on the coffee table and Ani sits on the floor in front of TV, watching old school Power Rangers on Netflix. Ben thinks the show is a little too old for Ani and goes over his head, but Ani is always smiling and clapping while watching it. Ben and Rey feel that some teenagers fighting evil on a campy TV show is better than something violent.

“Ani I have to go in my office to make some copies. Be good.”

When Ben is out of the room Ani gets up and starts pulling his toys out the toy box in that sits in the corner. Ani takes out every toy and drops them on the floor. Once the toy box is empty Ani goes around the living room, taking magazines, old mail, the TV remote, Ben’s iPad and iPhone, and some of Rey’s figurines to replace his toys in the box. Then he grabs his Legos and starts building.

Ben doesn’t notice anything different when he comes back out, that is until he sits down and his touches an empty space where his iPhone should be.

“Did I take it back there with me?” He says to himself.

“Wait, where’s my iPad?”

He stares at Ani and sees his toys.

“Ani did you take my stuff?”

“No.”

“Where is it then?”

“I don’t know.” Ani is focused on his Legos. Ben can tell he’s trying not to smile.

Is it too early to have a talk with Ani about lying?

* * *

“Terrible Twos is a myth.”

It’s Rey’s second night in Takodana. She’s in her hotel room having a late dinner of Chinese food takeout and talking to Leia on Skype.

“Yes, children that age are testing their limits and control, but it’s all a part of the developmental process. It will only serve to teach him right and wrong. Eventually it _will_ wear off.”

Rey swallows down a large bite of sweet and sour chicken before answering.

 “What was Ben like at that age?”

“That phase didn’t happen until he was three, just another reason to prove my point. It’s different for all kids. Ben wasn’t that bad though.”

“How?” Rey asks and leans in closer to the laptop screen.

“Ben was quiet. At one point Han thought he might need to get tested, you know, for Autism, and we eventually did do that. He was fine. Ben was just more interested in reading and building things with his toys. Ben had a voice and definitely had his opinions, but he wasn’t a fan of being social with others.”

Rey nods. “Something he hasn’t grown out of apparently.”

Leia laughs.

“His child psychologist at the time was worried being antisocial would stunt him emotionally, but once he got into preschool he excelled better than the other children. By the time he was in kindergarten he was bored because the work wasn’t challenging enough. We got him moved up a grade because of it.”

That was an added benefit to Rey and Ben’s marriage today. Ben graduated college with an English degree, did some teaching, worked his way up in publishing, and even published a few novellas of his own under a pen name. He occasionally does guest lecturing at University. He made more than enough money. Rey wasn’t the stay-at-home parent type, but if she ever did want a break, they wouldn’t suffer without her income.

Rey switches to a carton of rice.

“You’re going to have to let it pass with Ani. Obviously you can’t let him just get away with it, when he says no, you say no back, teach him, but you’ll have to be patient.”

Rey can be patient. She grew up being patient.

She doesn’t know about Ben.

Right now she’s wishing she got a second order of Wontons.

* * *

It’s after nine. Its two hours past Ani’s bedtime.

Ani is putting up a fight about sleeping tonight.

Everytime Ben gets him down and leaves his room, Ani sneaks out.

The firsts two times Ani got away with it and for nearly ten minutes the second time before Ben found him. The third time Ben was waiting outside Ani’s bedroom door.

“Daddy, toys.”

“No, it’s too late for toys. You need to get to bed.”

“No tired.”

Ani tries to go around Ben, but Ben reaches down and picks him up. He places Ani so they’re looking right at each other.

“Your toys will still be there in the morning,” Ben explains, softly.

“Now!” Ani demands.

“No.”

“No!”

Ben sighs.

“Ten minutes.”

He gives in because he hopes Ani will get exhausted.

He’s probably breaking a lot of parenting rules right now.

He could write a “How Not To” book.

 **Chapter One** : _How I Got Bested By A Two Year Old  
_

* * *

It’s Saturday morning and Rey is finally back home.

She ended up being ahead of her schedule and decided to forgo calling Ben, wanting to surprise him and Ani instead.

She missed them fiercely.

With her luggage bag clutched under her arm, Rey uses her keys to unlock the door. She practically jumps inside once it’s open.

“I’m ho—”  
  
What greets her is a mess; Ani’s toys sprawled out on the living room floor, an open bag of Teddy Grahams and a spilt juice box on the coffee table, and Ben and Ani curled up against each other, sleeping on the couch.

“—me.”

Rey drops her bag to the ground and takes out her phone.

“Leia and Han are going to love this.”


End file.
